Ten Reasons Nature is Good for Your Soul
This blog is Part 1 in a four-part series. “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” John Muir, 1912 God made this…
Can You Celebrate Easter Without Lent?
Lent is the 40-day period leading up to Easter, beginning with Ash Wednesday (March 6 this year), culminating with our celebration of the Greatest Day, the day death died and hope triumphed, our Resurrection Sunday (April 21). I didn’t grow…
New City Catechism: A Gateway to the Wonders of God
“If Jesus made everything but He was born as a baby, who made Joseph and Mary?” That was the question from my five-year-old daughter, Lucy, at bedtime a couple of weeks ago. We had been talking about the Christmas story.…
Praying the Scriptures
“Sometimes prayer feels like you are saying the same old things about the same old things.” I vividly remember Dr. Don Whitney sharing this sentiment in my class on spiritual disciplines back in seminary. The reason it stuck with me…
How to Read the Bible
Wait. What does that mean? Ugh. We’ve all had times when we’ve picked up the Bible, read it, and got nothing out of it. Maybe we didn’t understand what was said or were offended by it or maybe just bored…
Habits of Life and Death
Toward the end of his life, the Apostle Peter writes to fellow believers, “to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours.” Peter also writes to us. He says we are to live in such a way…
How Do We Grow as Christians?
One of the greatest obstacles to faith, at least in my experience, is when people feel like Christianity doesn’t change anyone. “Christians are just like everyone else,” one might say. “What’s the point?” This doubt isn’t limited to the skeptics.…
How Smart Are You Being With Your Smartphone?
On my phone, I recently caught up with a friend who is doing graduate studies in Paris. After we concluded our FaceTime conversation, I couldn’t help but pause for a moment and savor the technology in my hand. When we…
Cultivating Habits of Life and Death
Vices kill. Simply put, vices are habits, repeated sins, that can kill you. Mind. Body. And Soul. Perhaps not literally, and not immediately. But over time, as we’ve heard throughout our sermon series, vices can stunt spiritual growth, undermine relationships, and…
What Makes a Flourishing Marriage?
One of my more humorous professors in seminary said, in regard to his own marriage, that he had never considered divorce, but murder - that was another matter. As students, we all got a good laugh, but our professor was…